Columbus is taking in more money from credit cards swiped and coins dropped in the 4,800 parking
meters scattered throughout the city.

Meter feeders spent $4.4 million in Columbus last year, a 13.2 percent increase over the $3.9
million spent in 2011, when the city started installing credit-card-capable meters. In 2010, the
city brought in $3.3 million from parking meters.

About 3,000 old meters have been swapped out, and the remaining 1,800 will go before the end of
the year.

At the suggestion of an advisory group, the city has simplified its parking-meter rate
structure, added more meters and extended enforcement hours since 2010. Those changes were designed
to increase revenue by $1.4 million a year, which would cover the city’s debt obligation for the
Hilton Columbus Downtown if other entities went belly up. The city has banked the $1.4 million and
now is using revenue increases to help pay for parking operations.

So far, the new meters appear to be contributing to the revenue increase, said Randy Bowman,
mobility options division administrator for the Columbus Public Service Department. About 40
percent of all parking-meter transactions today are made using credit cards even though more than
one-third of the city’s system still hasn’t been converted.

He also said a simpler rate structure that cleared up confusion and extended meter hours in
areas such as the Short North have helped pull in more money.

“We know that in some areas ... utilization has increased significantly due to all those
different things,” Bowman said. “The additional choice for purchasing time at a parking meter —
customers like that.”

Restaurateur Elizabeth Lessner said that fewer customers ask whether her staff can break bills
into coins to feed meters and that the changes have had a positive effect on the Short North and
Downtown.

“It does bring more people to Downtown,” she said. “It’s removed an obstacle that was once
there.”

However, former Short North Alliance Executive Director John Angelo said the city should
consider centralized parking kiosks that spit out tickets to place on a car’s dashboard,
eliminating meters in some areas. Bowman said the city tested kiosks, but customers preferred
meters.

Since 2011, the city council has authorized spending about $3.7 million to swap out old meters,
including $935,000 it approved last week to finish the project. By the end of the year, the city’s
entire parking-meter network will accept credit cards, Bowman said.

The city also is keeping an eye on new technology that would allow drivers to find available
parking spaces on their smartphones. Cleveland is considering a similar pilot program to go along
with its test of credit-card meters.

“We’re interested in it, but just like Cleveland, I think we would do a pilot first to
understand its impact and the upsides and downsides of such a service,” Bowman said.